By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Meet Just of Gum

Get ready to dive into the creative mind of Just, the frontman of the noisy and dirty band, Gum. In our latest interview, we discuss how the band formed and their current musical endeavors. Just also shares his thoughts on antlers vs. stilts, his favorite pizza in NYC, and the band's future plans, including touring and working on their next two LPs. Don't miss out on this one-of-a-kind conversation!

A self-portrait by, Just Gum

Would You Rather…

have an enormous set of antlers or seven-foot-tall stilts for legs?

Antlers are more metal. Could clear any crowd quickly.

Some Questions with Just of Gum

Hi thanks for taking the time to put this together with us. Can you tell us a little more about how Gum got together?

I started Gum in college around 2013. It was mainly myself and my buddy Jordan; we switched bassists a couple times. We played a couple gigs but didn't really do anything else. Jordan was busy with the other bands he was in & I just couldn't really get it together.

A decade later I was ready to come back to music after taking a long pause. I wrote the first record all in a month to challenge myself to complete something & then formed the band behind it. I lucked out and met some really talented people to help see it through. They've been dedicated and it's nice to be working together as a band now.

Have any of you had any previous musical endeavors in the city?

Not really in the city.

I have an ambient band here, Since Driving, that started at the top of the pandemic but hasn't done much. We're working on a small thing now though & I'd like to see the full length through that I intended with the project sometime soon. I'm also playing in a sludge punk band, Inversion, that's trying to start getting out there. I played bass in Posture for a bit when I lived in CT nearly a decade ago.

John's from Pennsylvania and had a Beatles-esque project called Needlefish. He's working on solo material now.

Chase is from Florida and has a thing called Guyman & Barfunkle.

Garrett's from Knoxville and was in Bad Idols and Lions out there.

Do you have a single favorite article of clothing? What makes it your favorite?

Wallet chain. Does that need an explanation?

Your release ‘Too Little Too Late’ just came out on April 7th. How do you feel about the reception of the release so far?

It's been solid. That's just a collection of B-Sides from the album we put out in January.

We have two other B-sides in the hopper for whatever & a Bowling for Soup cover that may not see the light of day; I'd like to continue to be datable.

What is the best pizza in NYC?

Little Tony Santo Balluccis got the guac crust on lock.

Who is your favorite one-hit wonder?

B4-4: Get Down

The music video goes hard.

Just creates terrific collage artwork used for the album artwork for all of your releases. What draws you to the collage and vintage photography ascetic?

Old images have a nice vibe to them, there's that bit of dirt. Plus; I liked the idea of all of the single covers being 70's cig ads.

It was also just a relaxed way for me to get back into making things after nearly a decade before getting back into painting.

What movie has your favorite soundtrack?

The Beach.

As a band based in New York City, you are part of a vibrant and diverse music scene. How has the city and its culture influenced your music? Are there any other local artists or venues that have had a significant impact on your sound?

Well, we're noisy & dirty.

The only big influence is the sheer mass of bands out here; we don't want to be the next someone else, we want to be the first us. I'd rather try something and fail than shoot for the middle of the pack. We operate more in opposition.

That being said, we've played with some pretty cool bands since we got going at the end of January. We've been playing 2 shows a month & are starting to get a good collection of people we enjoy playing with.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

We're casually working on LPs 2 & 3 right now. It's been great to come in with a partial idea and work as a group on it. We'll be touring NJ, CT, MA, PGH, & back home at the end of May. We planned on hitting Baltimore and Philly too but had to adjust those dates. Well, be hitting those spots on a weekend at the end of July. We're looking to be out playing as much as we can manage so hit us up!